Joshua 20:1–22:34
20 The Lord also spoke to Joshua, saying, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying: a‘Appoint 1for yourselves cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses, 3 that the slayer who kills a person accidentally or unintentionally may flee there; and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood. 4 And when he flees to one of those cities, and stands at the entrance of the gate of the city, and 2declares his case in the hearing of the elders of that city, they shall take him into the city as one of them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them. 5 bThen if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not deliver the slayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor unintentionally, but did not hate him beforehand. 6 And he shall dwell in that city cuntil he stands before the congregation for judgment, and until the death of the one who is high priest in those days. Then the slayer may return and come to his own city and his own house, to the city from which he fled.’ ”
7 So they appointed dKedesh in Galilee, in the mountains of Naphtali, eShechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and fKirjath Arba (which is Hebron) in gthe mountains of Judah. 8 And on the other side of the Jordan, by Jericho eastward, they assigned hBezer in the wilderness on the plain, from the tribe of Reuben, iRamoth in Gilead, from the tribe of Gad, and jGolan in Bashan, from the tribe of Manasseh. 9 kThese were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel and for the stranger who 3dwelt among them, that whoever killed a person accidentally might flee there, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood luntil he stood before the congregation.
21 Then the heads of the fathers’ houses of the aLevites came near to bEleazar the priest, to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the children of Israel. 2 And they spoke to them at cShiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, d“The Lord commanded through Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with their common-lands for our livestock.” 3 So the children of Israel gave to the Levites from their inheritance, at the commandment of the Lord, these cities and their common-lands:
4 Now the lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. And ethe children of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, fhad thirteen cities by lot from the tribe of Judah, from the tribe of Simeon, and from the tribe of Benjamin. 5 gThe rest of the children of Kohath had ten cities by lot from the families of the tribe of Ephraim, from the tribe of Dan, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh.
6 And hthe children of Gershon had thirteen cities by lot from the families of the tribe of Issachar, from the tribe of Asher, from the tribe of Naphtali, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.
7 iThe children of Merari according to their families had twelve cities from the tribe of Reuben, from the tribe of Gad, and from the tribe of Zebulun.
8 jAnd the children of Israel gave these cities with their common-lands by lot to the Levites, kas the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses.
9 So they gave from the tribe of the children of Judah and from the tribe of the children of Simeon these cities which are 1designated by name, 10 which were for the children of Aaron, one of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi; for the lot was theirs first. 11 lAnd they gave them 2Kirjath Arba (Arba was the father of mAnak), nwhich is Hebron, in the mountains of Judah, with the common-land surrounding it. 12 But othe fields of the city and its villages they gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as his possession.
13 Thus pto the children of Aaron the priest they gave qHebron with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), rLibnah with its common-land, 14 sJattir with its common-land, tEshtemoa with its common-land, 15 uHolon with its common-land, vDebir with its common-land, 16 wAin with its common-land, xJuttah with its common-land, and yBeth Shemesh with its common-land: nine cities from those two tribes; 17 and from the tribe of Benjamin, zGibeon with its common-land, aGeba with its common-land, 18 Anathoth with its common-land, and bAlmon with its common-land: four cities. 19 All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their common-lands.
20 cAnd the families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, the rest of the children of Kohath, even they had the cities of their 3lot from the tribe of Ephraim. 21 For they gave them dShechem with its common-land in the mountains of Ephraim (a city of refuge for the slayer), eGezer with its common-land, 22 Kibzaim with its common-land, and Beth Horon with its common-land: four cities; 23 and from the tribe of Dan, Eltekeh with its common-land, Gibbethon with its common-land, 24 fAijalon with its common-land, and Gath Rimmon with its common-land: four cities; 25 and from the half-tribe of Manasseh, Tanach with its common-land and Gath Rimmon with its common-land: two cities. 26 All the ten cities with their common-lands were for the rest of the families of the children of Kohath.
27 gAlso to the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, from the other half-tribe of Manasseh, they gave hGolan in Bashan with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), and Be Eshterah with its common-land: two cities; 28 and from the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its common-land, Daberath with its common-land, 29 Jarmuth with its common-land, and En Gannim with its common-land: four cities; 30 and from the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its common-land, Abdon with its common-land, 31 Helkath with its common-land, and Rehob with its common-land: four cities; 32 and from the tribe of Naphtali, iKedesh in Galilee with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), Hammoth Dor with its common-land, and Kartan with its common-land: three cities. 33 All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their common-lands.
34 jAnd to the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the Levites, from the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its common-land, Kartah with its common-land, 35 Dimnah with its common-land, and Nahalal with its common-land: four cities; 36 4and from the tribe of Reuben, kBezer with its common-land, Jahaz with its common-land, 37 Kedemoth with its common-land, and Mephaath with its common-land: four cities; 38 and from the tribe of Gad, lRamoth in Gilead with its common-land (a city of refuge for the slayer), Mahanaim with its common-land, 39 Heshbon with its common-land, and Jazer with its common-land: four cities in all. 40 So all the cities for the children of Merari according to their families, the rest of the families of the Levites, were by their lot twelve cities.
41 mAll the cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were forty-eight cities with their common-lands. 42 Every one of these cities had its common-land surrounding it; thus were all these cities.
43 So the Lord gave to Israel nall the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they otook possession of it and dwelt in it. 44 pThe Lord gave them qrest all around, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers. And rnot a man of all their enemies stood against them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. 45 sNot a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.
Eastern Tribes Return to Their Lands
22 Then Joshua called the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, 2 and said to them: “You have kept aall that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, band have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you. 3 You have not 1left your brethren these many days, up to this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of the Lord your God. 4 And now the Lord your God has given crest to your brethren, as He promised them; now therefore, return and go to your tents and to the land of your possession, dwhich Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan. 5 But etake 2careful heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, fto love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” 6 So Joshua gblessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents.
7 Now to half the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given a possession in Bashan, hbut to the other half of it Joshua gave a possession among their brethren on this side of the Jordan, westward. And indeed, when Joshua sent them away to their tents, he blessed them, 8 and spoke to them, saying, “Return with much riches to your tents, with very much livestock, with silver, with gold, with bronze, with iron, and with very much clothing. iDivide the 3spoil of your enemies with your brethren.”
9 So the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the children of Israel at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to jthe country of Gilead, to the land of their possession, which they had obtained according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses.
10 And when they came to the region of the Jordan which is in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan—a great, impressive altar. 11 Now the children of Israel kheard someone say, “Behold, the children of Reuben, the children of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh have built an altar on the 4frontier of the land of Canaan, in the region of the Jordan—on the children of Israel’s side.” 12 And when the children of Israel heard of it, lthe whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered together at Shiloh to go to war against them.